Tiger Woods’ Arnold Palmer-esque charge fizzled early Sunday at Bay Hill, but some 72nd-hole magic still was to come. Rory McIlroy showed he has his own flair for the dramatic. In Tiger-like fashion, McIlroy drained a 25-foot birdie Sunday on the final hole of the Arnold Palmer Invitational to...

Rory McIlroy talks about Arnold Palmer and his win in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando on Sunday, March 18, 2018. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)

Rory McIlroy talks about Arnold Palmer and his win in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando on Sunday, March 18, 2018. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)

A local favorite, major champions, rising stars and the biggest name in golf make for an intriguing leaderboard following the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Longtime Lake Nona resident Henrik Stenson sits on top after opening with an 8-under 64 at Bay Hill, featuring nine birdies...

Professional golfers have never been as bad as weekend hackers with their stretching and workout habits. Your probably know the routine: A Big Gulp of coffee on the go to the tournament, then propping a putter behind your arms for a quick stretch. Away we go, and let’s hope nothing pops. Still,...

Tiger Woods had a strong opening day performance at the Arnold Palmer Invitational this morning at Bay Hill Golf Club and Lodge shooting 4-under 68. 2016 winner Jason Day and world No. 6 Hideki Matsuyama, back from a six-week layoff for a thumb injury, joined Woods in the featured group of API’s...

The 2019 LPGA Tour season will begin in Orlando with the inaugural Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions. Winners from the past two LPGA seasons will compete for a $1.2 million purse Jan. 17-20 at Tranquilo Golf Club at Four Seasons Resort Orlando in Lake Buena Vista. The field will also include...

Tiger Woods put on a Sunday charge at Bay Hill that looked all too familiar. One swing changed everything at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Coming off three birdies and two pars saves that brought him to within one shot of the lead, Woods hammered a tee shot so far left on the par-5 16th hole...

Real life actually is stranger than fiction: Tiger Woods is the favorite to win the Masters. That status is based on public perception — i.e. wagering. So much money has poured in on Woods that his one-time odds of 80-1 have dropped to 8-1 at the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas. Dustin Johnson...

When Jason Day won at Bay Hill in 2016, he was on top of the world. A year later, he never had been so low. Day now enters this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational riding a long-awaited wave of momentum. The 30-year-old Aussie is of sound mind and body after enduring injury, family tragedy and a...

The surging galleries of cheering fans, the giddy tournament officials watching the cash registers go ca-ching and the TV network executives anticipating the sky-rocketing ratings all will understandably be rooting for Tiger Woods when he makes his return to The Arnie on Thursday. But in a perfect...

I think Arnie would love this new Tiger even more. Then again, Arnie loved the old Tiger. Arnie loved everybody. And maybe, just maybe, with the gaping hole of grace and charm left by Arnie’s passing, Tiger is finally starting to emulate his old friend. In making his return to the Arnold Palmer...

Tiger Woods was the best solo act in golf for years, but he rarely was viewed as an ideal teammate. Now, he is going to be a captain. On Tuesday at Bay Hill, site of this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, Woods was named to the leader of the U.S. team during the 2019 Presidents Cup in Melbourne,...

Tiger Woods’ return to the Arnold Palmer Invitational officially will begin at 8:20 a.m. Thursday when the eight-time winner at Bay Hill will tee off. 2016 winner Jason Day and world No. 6 Hideki Matsuyama, back from a six-week layoff for a thumb injury, will join Woods in the featured group of...

Arnold Palmer never met a stranger or faced a golf shot he feared. Amy Saunders, the late Palmer’s younger daughter, is more apt to remain behind the scenes and examine her options. Saunders also is very much her father’s daughter. Saunders will channel his hard-charging style and use her considerable...

The red shirt didn't have a collar. His head doesn't have quite as much hair. His lower spine has been fused. Everything else about Tiger Woods is starting to look familiar. For the first time since the late summer of 2013, Woods worked the fans into a frenzy on the weekend and keep them on their...

If he could not win, Paul Casey said Friday he was pulling for Tiger Woods at the Valspar Championship. Woods will have to wait at least another week, because Casey mounted a Sunday charge at the challenging Copperhead Course to record a six-under par 65 and earn the 40-year-old Englishman his...

A long victory drought on the PGA Tour finally ended Sunday, just not the one a raucous crowd was expecting. Paul Casey closed with a 6-under 65 and won the Valspar Championship, but only after watching from the locker room as Tiger Woods came up one putt short of forcing a playoff. It was the...

Oh, how we've missed the Sundays of spring. Those lazy, heady non-football days when Tiger Woods, wearing a bright red shirt, as in contention and playing well. It didn't matter whether the tournament was a major or one sponsored by a major paint company. When Woods was on, he was destination viewing....

Canadian rookie Corey Conners kept the lead in the Valspar Championship and had a clear view of what he faces in the final round. Tiger Woods was right in front of him Saturday, and Conners could hear the roars all afternoon. Conners, who ran off birdies in the early stretches of both sides at...

Tony Andrulonis awoke well before sunrise and soon began the short walk from his Palm Beach Gardens home to the first tee box at PGA National Golf Club. The 48-year-old had waited a long time for this moment. He wanted to be ready. Tiger Woods was playing in Wednesday’s Pro-Am at the Honda Classic...

Dustin Johnson has a long game and a short memory. Johnson holed a 65-yard wedge shot down the hill and up the green for an eagle, and he powered his way to birdies on the par 5s at Kapalua for a 7-under 66 to build a two-shot lead over Brian Harman going into the final round at the Sentry Tournament...

Sentinel coverage area teams once again excelled at the state golf tournament, with Lake Mary and The First Academy taking two of the three available FHSAA classification championships. Two area girls won individual state champions and three were state runners-up. Here is the All-Area team, led...

Super Six Team Rankings 1. The First Academy Buzz: Royals shot stellar 283-282—565 in Class 1A to win TFA’s first state golf title. 2. Lake Mary Buzz: The Rams won third consecutive 3A state title with 300-288—588 score. 3. Lake Mary Prep Buzz: Griffins, 1A champs three years in a row, were runners-up...

Sentinel coverage area teams once again excelled at the state golf tournament, with Lake Mary and The First Academy taking two of the three available FHSAA classification championships. Two area girls won individual state champions and three were state runners-up. Here is the All-Area team, led...

After playing golf from age six to 12, including a sixth grade season of high school play when she attended Lake Mary Prep for one year, Jenny Kim briefly lost interest in the sport as she hit her teen years. “I don’t think I was burned out, but I wasn’t practicing much at all,” Kim said of her...

First-year Windermere High School won a district championship for the first time in school history when its boys golf team claimed the Class 3A, District 7 tournament on Tuesday at Forest Lake Golf Club. The Wolverines posted a 296 team total to win by nine shots over runner-up Dr. Phillips. Louis...

The First Academy girls golf team ran away with the team title and Lake Mary Prep’s Jennifer Zhou won the individual championship at the prestigious Honda Classic High School Invitational in south Florida on Saturday. Zhou, followed up her opening round 72 with a 3-under-par 69 for a 141 total...

Lake Mary Prep is coming off of three straight state championships, but with roster changes coming into the fall season, second-year coach Mike Jamison wasn’t sure how his new group would turn out. The Griffins have answered any concerns with continued dominance in the regular season. “We were coming...

It’s almost time for varsity golf district tournaments, which means it’s time to take a look at some of the top area schools heading into postseason play. The Orlando area is home to defending state champions, freshman phenoms, and a player who just broke a record held by Jordan Speith. On the boy’s...

Three-time defending Class 1A girls golf state champ Lake Mary Prep remained undefeated for the season with a 144-158 win on Tuesday against The First Academy (18-2). But the Griffins will be missing two of of their top players when they face an elite field at this weekend’s Honda Classic High...

Lake Mary Prep defeated Lake Nona by a 148-168 score in a Wednesday afternoon girls golf match that featured two of last season’s three individual state champions. Mimi Chen, the 1A state medalist as a ninth grader for LMP in 2016, shot a 38 at Timacuan Golf Club to help the three-time defending...

The First Academy junior Sophie Guo carded a 5-under-par 67 as the Royals rolled to victory in their own TFA Invitational on Wednesday at Grand Cypress Golf Club. TFA’s Taylor Zeng was runner-up with a 73 as the Royals totaled 294 strokes as a team to win by 29 shots over second place Circle Christian....

When it comes to girls’ golf, Lake Mary Prep is usually shooting for a state championship. A year after winning their third consecutive Class 1A state title, the Griffins show no signs of slowing down. Four starters are back for a lineup featuring defending state champion Mimi Chen, reigning state...

Dustin Johnson faced long odds all day against Jordan Spieth until the longest drive led to an unlike playoff victory Sunday in The Northern Trust. Johnson rallied from a five-shot deficit on the front nine. And on the final hole in regulation, after one of the most powerful players in golf chose...

Michelle Wie was set to have surgery Sunday to remove her appendix. Wie withdrew before the final round of the Canadian Pacific Women's Open and was taken to Ottawa Hospital for the surgery. "Further details on her condition will be provided when available," her agency, IMG, said in a statement....

Jordan Spieth put together another back nine filled with birdies and built a three-shot lead going into the final round of the Northern Trust. Spieth seized control with three straight birdies starting on the 14th hole at Glen Oaks Club in Old Westbury, N.Y. He shot 31 on the back nine for a six-under-par...

The Georgia company that owns Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters golf tournament on Monday asked a judge to stop a golf memorabilia company from auctioning off a Masters champion's green jacket and other items it says were never supposed to have left the club's grounds. Augusta National...

Kevin Kisner survived a calamitous finish at the PGA Championship thanks to a good bounce off a bridge that allowed him to escape with a bogey and take a one-shot lead into the final round at Quail Hollow. Kisner already gave up a two-shot lead with a shot into the water on the 16th hole. He nearly...

Hideki Matsuyama and Kevin Kisner faced the toughest Quail Hollow had to offer and share the lead in the PGA Championship going into the weekend of the year's final major. Odds are Quail Hollow won't be the same test the rest of the way. Clouds quickly gathered Saturday morning about the time some...

Tiger Woods will not attend his arraignment Wednesday on a driving under the influence charge, his attorney said, meaning under court rules the superstar golfer will be pleading not guilty. Attorney Douglas Duncan said in an email Tuesday to The Associated Press that Woods will not be attending...

Jordan Spieth is going for a career Grand Slam at the PGA Championship and doesn't appear to have a care in the world. Rory McIlroy hasn't won a major in three years and expectations are higher than ever. Blame that on Quail Hollow. This is where McIlroy won his first PGA Tour event in 2010 when...

Players are allowed to wear shorts during practice rounds at the PGA Championship. That won't be necessary in two years when it moves to May. The PGA of America is moving its major championship to May for the first time in 70 years when it goes to Bethpage Black on New York's Long Island in 2019...

Charley Hoffman birdied the final hole for a seven-under-par 65 on Saturday at Glen Abbey in Oakville to take a one-stroke lead into the final round of the RBC Canadian Open. The 40-year-old Hoffman had six birdies in a seven-hole stretch that ended on No. 15, bogeyed the par-4 17th and rebounded...

Jordan Spieth was standing at the edge. Not just the edge of a steep hill overlooking the 13th hole at Royal Birkdale — the result of a drive that sailed 100 yards wide right — but the edge of another meltdown in a major championship, this time the British Open. How he escaped to lift the Claret...

As well as he’s playing, Jordan Spieth could have a grip adjustment in his future. He’s one good Sunday away from wrapping his hands around the Claret Jug. Spieth shot a 5-under-par 65 on Saturday to create some distance from the field at 11 under heading into the final round of the British Open...

Branden Grace was playing in the daylight — good weather, at last — and the dark. The South African had no idea that he was headed for history Saturday, that his eight-birdie round of 62 in the British Open was the lowest ever in a major championship. As a result, Grace went from ho-hum to history....

With a chance to close out the match, Jordan Spieth fired his second shot into the par-5 15th at Royal Birkdale and it never left the flag, bounding onto the green about 20 feet behind the hole. His partner Tuesday was Justin Thomas, who watched the flight of the ball and said, "I like having him...